What is With the NO SHOWS this Week!

I had a real problem with no shows last year. So on each Monday, I start calling everyone on the calendar for the weekend. If I have a crazy wait list, I start calling weeks in advance to confirm everyone is still coming and to remind people to cancel ASAP since there are others waiting.

This has been working pretty well for me. My husband tells me to take down credit card numbers and so that people will call me when they need to cancel. I think most people are basically courteous enough to think to call, but I also think that, by now, most people have spent time on my waiting list and are aware that someone else is waiting.

This week it has been the 'last minute', 'absolutely desperate', 'nowhere else to go', 'will take whatever days you can give me', 'so grateful you were able to squeeze my dog in' people that never showed up. Somewhere between panic on Saturday and drop off on Sunday, Zoey's owners calmed down enough to forget that they have a dog, are moving and have no where to put her.

This was Labor Day weekend, I told Zoey's mom that I would call her the moment someone went home on Monday and that Zoey could stay until Friday morning. Someone would have to pick her up and then we would do the same thing on the next Sunday to Friday. I had a dog go home on Sunday instead of Monday and I though Zoey's parents would be thrilled. They might have been if they ever listened to the messages on their cell phone. That is until the cell phone stopped working on Monday afternoon.

Okay, so I finally erased Zoey off the calendar sometime on Tuesday. That was weird.

What's weirder, is that I had a repeat of this again this weekend.

Nikita this time, her mom calls on Friday desperate for this weekend. She only needs Saturday night to Monday. Hey, I can actually do that, I have dogs going home on Saturday evening. It is going to be a bit tight. The dogs going home are scheduled to leave at 7 to 8pm and Nikita is due to arrive between 4 and 5pm. (dog juggling, I've done it before and will do it again) Only no juggling required, no Nikita at all.

So once again a miraculous maneuver from panic to so relaxed that they can't think to call me and tell me all about it in less than 24 hours. UGH!

Maybe I will have to take credit card numbers, I just won't tell anyone I don't have a credit card machine.